The present application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/045,187, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RANDOM EARLY DETECTION OF DATA PACKETS OF NETWORK CONNECTIONS”, filed Oct. 18, 2001; and is also related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/035,791, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISCARDING A PRIORITIZED FAIR SHARE OF TRAFFIC OF NETWORK CONNECTIONS”, filed Oct. 18, 2001; and is also related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/045,288 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,918,005), entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CACHING FREE MEMORY CELL POINTERS”, filed Oct. 18, 2001; the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference.